


Day 6: Husky

by Magpie_Crow



Series: Inktober 2019 [6]
Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Deciet, Aromantic Asexual Emile, Familial Abuse, Finding Nemo references, Intersex Emile, Magic, Mermaids, Minor Angst, Multi, Other, Queer-Platonic Relationship, Thomas only briefly mentioned, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-24 20:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20913635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magpie_Crow/pseuds/Magpie_Crow
Summary: Dee and his partner are having a lovely day at the beach. What happens next?





	Day 6: Husky

**Author's Note:**

> Emile is intersex in this story, even if the story doesn't state that explicitly. Use of they/them pronouns.  
The familial abuse is... Light? Nothing is stated outright, only a character's fear of being disowned if he was honest about his orientation/relationship.

Dee watched from a distance as his partner bowled their brother into the water. He enjoyed the beach, the water was warm and the sun even warmer, but he came here to relax, not play… Whatever it was that Emile was playing with Thomas. It looked like fun, he supposed. Then again, floating in the water and dozing a little was also fun. 

He sputtered as a small wave crashed into his face, and looked up to see a stranger laughing at him. 

“Sorry, gurl, guess I didn’t see you there.” The stranger winked at him from over the large sunglasses he wore. 

“I’m not sure I believe you.”

The stranger shrugged. “Believe what you will, babes. I’m Remy.”

“Dee. He/him pronouns.” He held his hand out, but Remy didn’t shake it. 

“You come here often, hun?” The way Remy was looking at him made Dee feel a little nervous. It wasn’t often that Dee wore so little, but Emile had begged and begged him to keep his shirt off. Because ‘you need to get more sun, sweetheart!’

“Not really.”

“That’s a shame. Want to see something cool?” His voice was husky, almost seductive. Dee stiffened. 

“If it’s your genitals, I’m not interested.”

Laughing, Remy shook his head. “Nah, gurl, it’s my fins!” He pointed down, and Dee looked to see a magnificent fish’s tail, all black and yellow and white. 

“That’s an impressive costume.” Dee was impressed. And a little jealous. But mostly impressed.

“Not a costume, gurl. This is pure, 100 percent fish flesh.” He pushed his sunglasses up a little, just enough for Dee to see a smattering of tiny white scales around his eyes. “Want one?”

“I- what?”

“I’m offering to make you a merman, gurl! No taxes, no shoes, no Starbies.” The merman paused. “Ok, I miss the Starbies a little, but there are seafood alternatives.” 

“Dee? Is something wrong?” Thank all the mercies. Dee turned and waved Emile over. To his credit, Remy didn’t flinch when Emile arrived and slipped an arm around Dee’s waist affectionately. “Sweetheart, who’s your new friend?”

“Em, this is Remy. He’s offered to make me a merman.” Remy saluted, flashing his tail at Emile. 

“Wow! Are all mermen modeled after Moorish Idols?”

“Gurl, after what now?”

Emile’s eyes glinted, and Dee knew they were about to talk about a cartoon. “Moorish Idols! That’s the kind of fish your tail seems to be similar to. Gill, from the movie Finding Nemo, is a Moorish Idol!”

“Uh. Nah, babe, there are. A lot of fish in the sea?” Remy looked a little unsure of himself, which comforted Dee a great amount. “How about you, then, gurl? Want to be a merman?”

“Merperson, thanks, but I’m not so sure. What would that entail?”

Dee watched as Remy and Emile talked about… Well, becoming merpeople, which was honestly not the kind of conversation Dee expected to witness. Something about permanently becoming water-dwelling creatures and never seeing their families again?

He almost wanted that. 

“I appreciate all the information! We’ll have to get back to you, though, it’s almost time to go to lunch. I promised Thomas hamburgers!” Emile smiled their ‘business smile’ at Remy and began pulling Dee away. Dee went willingly. He would honestly go anywhere with Emile. 

And nowhere without them.

~~

“You want to, don’t you.” It was a statement, not a question. Dee would have been startled by Emile’s presence behind him if he hadn’t been expecting Emile to bring it up as soon as Thomas left for his own hotel room.

“I know you wouldn’t want to leave Thomas.” 

“Did I ask what I wanted?” Dee smiled and turned to his partner. 

“No, but we’re together, Em. I want you to be happy.”

Emile looked at him with sad eyes, and Dee looked at the ground instead. “Sweetheart, I want you to be happy _too_.”

“I just- I’m tired, Em.” Dee looked back up. “I’m tired of misgendering you to my family. I’m tired of telling them we’re just roommates. I want to be yours forever and not worry about whether my family would disown me if they found out.” He paused, and could feel hot tears spilling over his cheeks. “I’m tired of lying. If we left… And they didn’t know what happened to us… We could live our truth and they wouldn’t- They wouldn’t ever be disappointed.”

Emile reached up and cupped his cheeks in gentle hands. “I don’t want to hold you back, sweetheart. What if you made a decision because of me, and then we split up later, and you could never change that?” 

“You want to split up?” Dee jerked back, eyes wide. Emile rushed to pull him into a hug. 

“No, honey-Dee, never! You’re stuck with me as long as you want me.”

“Forever sounds like a plan, Em.”

Emile kissed the top of his head. “Let’s do it, Dee.”

He pulled back to look up at them. “You really mean it? I don’t want you to regret anything.”

“Sweetheart, I won’t regret anything as long as I’m with you.” They grinned conspiratorially. “And, you know, that Remy person looked interested. Maybe we could turn our duo into a trio?”

Dee flushed and looked away. Emile chuckled.

“I know neither of us are interested in sex or romance, honey-Dee, but,” they ran a hand through Dee’s curls. “Both of us have a lot of love to give.”

~~

They found Remy the next evening, floating in the deeper waters where swimmers were less likely to see his fins. 

“Well, gurl? Whatcha think?”

“What do we need to do?” Dee gripped Emile’s hand tight as the merman looked at them with an almost predatory grin.

“I can only do one at a time, babes. Who’s going first?”

“I am.” Dee stepped forward. “I’m also going to skin you alive if this is a prank.”

“Feisty! I like it.” Remy swam close enough to Dee that he could feel the merman’s breath on his face. “Hold still, gurl.”

Dee made an inarticulate noise of alarm as Remy kissed him, suddenly and fiercely. As the kiss went on, he felt his legs begin to burn and pull together, and a tingling sensation ran up his back and one side of his face. 

Remy pulled back, and Dee clumsily sunk into the water, unused to his new appendage. “Why do I look like a banana?” 

His new tail was snake-like, and bright yellow with dark black spots. When he reached up to his eye, he could feel smooth scales under his fingers. 

“Sweetheart, you look wonderful!” Dee twisted to see Emile staring at him in awe. He swallowed as Emile raised a reverent hand to run across another patch of scales on his shoulder.

“Neat, huh, babes?” Remy looked very self-satisfied. “You next?”

Emile didn’t let Remy take initiative, which gave Dee a small, smug thrill. That was his partner, and his partner was the _best_. 

There was a bright orange light around Emile that made it hard for Dee to watch them change. When it was gone, his partner slipped into the water much like Dee had. Their orange-and-white scales went in a long line from their shoulder-blades down to their flashy tail. When they turned to face him, there were white rings around their eyes, much like Remy’s. 

“I’m a clownfish, sweetheart! Just like Nemo!”

He loved his partner so, so much.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Beta'd by the marvelous @foreverinprinxietyhell on tumblr, who was ever so kind as to read it over for me. 
> 
> I set up a Discord server! <https://discord.gg/gtWgvQ4>  
Join me to talk about my writing and stuff!
> 
> Find more on my tumblr @we-are-fam-ily


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